#tw parental death

[nikoisme]

This pain will linger with me still, I pray this too shall pass.

[absolutedream-art]

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Paleo reveals a bit about his family.  Copper comforts his friend.

[dreamyyesenia]

Always Keep Simming - No one could take him from her

When Colin got home, it was already early evening. Aileen was standing in front of their house, waiting. She was sick with worry, as no one at Colin‘s workplace had known where he was. Identifying artifacts could take a very long time though so it hadn’t been the first time that Colin had been gone for an unusually long period of time. However, normally he’d call her and text her frequently, to let her know he was safe. Colin told her he had a lot to talk about and that it couldn’t wait. Alexander had already fed the kids and they were all taking a nap, so Aileen and Colin traveled to the park, to talk in private.

Aileen had actually always known who Colin really was! Colin had told her everything about his biological parents and their story a few days before he had proposed to her. Colin had never felt comfortable with other sims enough to open up about his past. But her relentless support, trust and compassion had been the reason he’d fallen in love with her anyways… and of course, her brilliant mind. They had agreed to never talk about this topic again and stay far away from the Realm of Magic, for the sake of their children. But now, they had to.

When Colin first told Aileen about his trip to Glimmerbrook, she was shocked and a bit mad at him. He knowingly went to the place he’d been avoiding his entire life! He’d gone right to the one person his father had tried to protect him from! But, she knew he’d done it for her, for their children and their safety. His selflessness was one of the many qualities she loved deeply about him.

„Well, how much time has the old crow left?“, she asked, once Colin had finished explaining. „I honestly don’t know. Maybe she took some potions to reverse her age, who knows. I hope I have some time to figure this out“, he said. „I‘m not letting you go. I‘m just not!! I‘d rather be a test subject for aliens forever than losing you!“, Aileen was desperate and near tears. She was always so calm and collected, logical and rarely lost control of her emotions. „Hey, come here“, Colin cradled her face in his hands and looked deeply into her chocolate eyes. „I‘m not going anywhere. This is you and me. Our brains and skills combined, we‘ll find a way out of this. It‘ll be challenging. But I trust in us“, Colin reassured her softly. Aileen embraced him tightly. „The mad scientist and her magical historian. Let’s show the b*tch what she gets for messing with us.“😈

TW: Parental Death. I tried not to go into detail as this is a hard topic for me too. This is the story of Colin‘s parents but absolutely not essential for the story. So, only continue reading if you feel comfortable with this topic 🩷

Colin‘s father, James Gavin Blackburn, son of Jenna Blackburn, headmaster of the Magic Realm, had fallen in love with Colin’s mother, Geraldine Gemma Smith, a sim without magic. They‘d been lovebirds in school. Once his father had graduated, Jenna Blackburn demanded he attend spellcaster university to get the education he needed to be her successor. Still, James snuck out to keep seeing his beloved. One day, Geraldine revealed that she was pregnant! James was elated and made preparations to marry her and build a life together. However, his mother found out about the pregnancy… and demanded Geraldine to stay in the Magic Realm, so she could get the proper care - which was not what it truly was of course, she was held hostage and all Jenna wanted, was the little babe. Even then, she’d started planning to make Colin her successor as her son was apparently a „lost cause“… Colin‘s mother had a difficult pregnancy and unfortunately didn’t make it. James was so heartbroken over this that he got severely ill. One night, Colin and his father escaped with the help of some of their friends in the outside world. However, James was already weakened and the escape took all of his energy that was left. As his last act, he put a protection spell on his son that would prevent any occult from recognizing his magic. Colin was only a few months old at that time and got adopted by his parents’ friends. When he was 18, he discovered the truth about his origins in a letter written by his dad after his birth, addressed to his adoptive parents and asking for help. Desperate to know more, Colin had started his research… but he had promised his adoptive parents (who unfortunately passed away in an accident) never to step foot into the Magic Realm, as his father’s protection spell only worked in the real SimWorld. Until aliens started luring his wife into space, that was…

[cult-of-the-eye]

i think about alice dyer all the fucking time how old was she when her parents died did she sit in their empty house holding her head in her hands when did she become lukes mum dad and big sister does she blame herself does she blame them or is she stuck in a twisted middle ground of hatred that she's sure will one day swallow her whole

[ihopesocomic]

To give the benefit of the doubt to anon, I interpreted the question about Quiet's body to be intended as one of closure rather than morbidity. I still don't think it would do Adamant any good to see her sister in that state, though.

Interpret it how you want. Anon is more than welcome to clarify it for themselves. I found the question to be inappropriate. Adamant is a kid. - Cat

-

Also, viewing a body can be the very opposite of closure for some. From what I can gather, it's not a well received part of the process of losing somebody.

On the flip side of the idea it presents closure, there's also the whole 'think of them as you remember them' concept because... bodies aren't a pleasant sight? I never viewed my bio mother's body. I simply didn't want to see her like that. I was also only 13. A kid, just like Adamant is.

And I know full well the state of Quiet's body does not compare. She was mauled to death.

It's also not the first time we've had strange questions about Quiet's body. We've actually had more questions about it than Clever's and idk, something about that makes me feel kinda icky. Like we must see this innocent child's body in order for it to have an impact when... no? Clever seeing the body and becoming sad/furious was enough from a storytelling perspective.

Not to mention bodies don't have the relevance in the IHS universe like they do in our world. There's no funerals, no burials. Because the lions believe in rebirth. A body is deemed a useless, empty vessel that has been done away with in order for something else to be born. So, there's no real desire to view it and/or gain closure on that front. - RJ

[artbean]

@eddiemonth day 2: friendship

Outcasts stick together. (tw for loss of a parent under the cut)

Maybe your mom dies, your dad gets arrested and you wind up on your Uncle's doorstep with your hair buzzed off and shoes that pinch your toes. But when you turn up to the first day of school a week later, your friend's got new tapes for his walkman and quietly lets you use it in the library at lunch. After school, before his mom's gotten off work, you stop at 7/11 for a pop to share while you read The Hobbit to him and count the yellow cars that drive by while you sit at the curb.

And maybe everything’s different and will never be how it once was, but maybe this is the one thing that will stay the same. You can sit with your friend after school drinking coke and reading Tolkien and talking about your shitty dads, and it might not make the load any lighter but at least you’re not the only one carrying it for a while.

When his mom invites you to sleep over that night, she makes you a grilled cheese sandwich, and it’s less brown than your mama made you, but it tastes like home anyway. She crafts you a nest of quilts in his room, worn soft and smelling like fresh linen. You’ll take turns listening to his walkman until one of you finally falls asleep, because neither of you have gotten used to a quiet home at night.

As the music slows with the dying battery, distorting but with the core of the song remaining unchanged, you drift off alongside it.

[lopposting]

So, I have some mixed feelings about the Rise ending. I don't know, it's complicated. At the centre of the game seems to lie a father-son relationship and the lengths of approval. You are "punished", in a sense, if you decide to hand your heart to your father. But it does still technically "reward" you with approval in the good ending with his acknowledgement. I thought it would've been really interesting if Geppetto says the exact same thing as the Free from the puppet string ending ("I knew it, you're just a useless puppet") in the Rise ending, but in a different tone.

[I know this is a complicated subject, and I'm sure that many people may have some personal perspectives on this, but I hope people get what I'm trying to get at]

But after some time, I think that the apology is not really for the audience, it's for P. The apology is a worthy inclusion, not because Geppetto needs to be redeemed, but because without it, the only "wrong" option is to seek his approval. Maybe his acceptance isn't the "right" thing to want, or what we "should" want [I don't mean in a moral way] - but Pino isn't wrong for wanting it.

Or maybe he is, I don't know. But I think, despite everything - it's still what Pino wanted. and I think it does provide him with a bit more closure and peace than something else. (And it can do this while also not portraying it as the "healthiest" thing to want.)

And I think that's what they're showing us with the extra shot of him looking over the balcony. There's no other purpose of this scene [I mean other than establishing the next scene for the audience], and In his reality, it would've been completely silent. He's just looking at the view. Not even listening to music. And then he finally goes to sleep.

[distracted-and-diffused]

DBDA Rewatch Fridge Horror Moments: The Disruption of the Dandelion Sprites

(This moment brought to you by Rewatch Round 3, during which I briefly tried to construct a detailed timeline for fic purposes)

"When I was little, my dad used to say that if you needed a little extra courage, a dandelion in your pocket would do the trick. And when you leave Osaka to go live on the opposite end of the globe, you need courage." -- Niko Sasaki

In Episode 02, Niko recounts when she first encountered/contracted the Dandelion Sprites, who feed on attention. While she's infected with the sprites, they appear to take over her body for periods of time and create colorful hallucinations to draw other people's attention. Typically, the people seem to become spellbound for a few moments, only to forget why they were so interested later. Niko, meanwhile, generally can't remember exactly what happens during the moments that the sprites take over, but she's very uncomfortable with people staring at her.

It's ironic and cruel that the very thing that Niko sought out to help her as she starts out at her new school in Washington ends up making her situation so much worse. It's heavily implied that the sprites are a major factor in Niko becoming a shut-in, why she had to leave the dorm and drop out of school. It's not hard to imagine why, either: if everyone remembers only that Niko drew other people's attention at times when she wasn't supposed to, it's likely that she would be labeled a disruptive student and an "attention-seeker," which would be particularly difficult for a teenage girl far from home who's just trying to fit in, in a small town where all of the other kids have probably known each other all of their lives.

Given Niko's quote above, it seems like she would have set out to find the dandelions pretty soon after she got to the boarding school. And if that's the case, it means that she would have likely been already infected by the time her dad died. And that makes it so much worse.

Niko talks about her mom sending her back to boarding school the day after the funeral, to get away from the sadness. But what if it wasn't just a misguided attempt to spare Niko pain (she's still very sad, and very lonely) but because Niko was inappropriately drawing attention at a very painful time?

If so, then that move probably saved Niko's life. (The book Paranormal Parasitics lists confrontations with both "loved ones" and "groups of strangers" as risk factors for "imminent explosion" caused by the sprites.)

But it also isolates her further, cutting her off from her home and her family. Niko won't even open her mom's letters anymore, and she won't write back. ("She just wants to hear that I'm not sad anymore. But I can't lie to her.")

(This is also its own source of fridge horror from a parental standpoint -- how worried must Niko's mother be, when she not only knows that Niko is overseas and grieving, but that Niko dropped out of boarding school, left the school, is apparently on her own someplace else, and won't communicate with her?)

And I can only imagine how much more horrible it would be to feel as though everyone is looking at Niko, at a time when Niko is grieving, and doesn't want to be looked at.

Every time that Niko talks about how she's been a coward, or a shut-in, I think about all of the stuff that she was dealing with because of the sprites. And yet she still talks to them, and lets them live in a jar in her room.

[mushroomnoodles]

imagine dying and leaving your little kid, I bet simon was so fucking anxious; he didn't even got to say goodbye. and morri was so young! he was like a child mentally I bet, so I would be also worried for that little detail.

tw for parental death but its mostly just talking about simons thoughts about morri in the dead world + some post revive

he was extremely anxious! he knew morri was gonna find him like that, and he was reeling from how suddenly he'd gone. no goodbye, no i love you, no it'll be okay, nothing. he sort of stopped considering death as an option once the first 100 years passed, and since he hadn't felt any different at all, he had no reason to suspect he'd metaphorically implode.

now, morri is smart for their age, more like a naive adult than a teenager, but they are limited by the emotional maturity of someone their age. morri had never really dealt with death before, especially not death so close to them. he was so anxious for how it'd affect their developing mind.

he was especially concerned because he and morri were so closely bonded, he knew he was morri's favorite person and the only thing he could hope was that marceline would take over like he requested. he had faith in her, he knew she'd raise morri well. of course, he didn't account for morri getting powers and running off since they hadn't shown any sign of having their abilities since birth.

he also figured he wouldn't be able to see them again for a long time due to their lifespan, and just sorta buckled down and was like, surely marceline has it under control. and even if morri was young, and he was worried for them, they were strong and he was certain they would be okay eventually. though that concern never went away, and he didn't really get any news of morri's wellbeing. he did look for betty for a time too, since he hadn't seen her since before morrigan was born, but she wasn't around. he did enjoy his hypoallergenic pillow though.

in the resurrection timeline, when he was first revived he was initially in shock and incredibly disoriented, but his thoughts beyond "ow my face and head and everything" and "betty?" were all on morri. he mistook morri for betty because his vision was blurry on top of the mid eyesight and last he saw them they were prepubescent.

he did initially think that marceline had raised morri, they looked so grown up and put together! although with time he will definitely notice the uh. lack of a parental figure in their behavior and step in to be a bit stricter than he was in their youth. and he picks up some of their vocabulary

[violnces]

—       blasting  self esteem  by  the offspring  down  main  street  we’ve  spotted  VERITY MOREAU  sporting  their  gold chained ruby necklace engraved with her family insignia .  the  twenty five  year  old  DHAMPIR HYBRID  who’s  been  in  town  for  twenty years  often  can  be  seen  sketching new designs in the park on a summer day, sneaking through the woods at night to clear her mind, singing loudly at the top of her lungs at the shop while bored,  or  working  as  a  TATTOO ARTIST at  NEON INK.  people  say  they  display  imaginative  and  vindictive  traits,  but  we  rather  trust  their  vibes:  feeling the weight of ancient family values on your shoulder, being born into a legacy that bears the weight of the world, pink skirts and a dazzling smile with a tattoo gun in your hand, wanting to scream into oblivion without fear of being heard, the distinct feeling of wanting to go home - but not knowing where home is.  also,  we’ve  heard  they  love  COLLECTING ROCKS !   aren’t  they  fascinating ?

full name:  verity adeline moreau

nicknames: v, ver, little vamp,

gender:  cis woman

pronouns:  she + her

sexuality:  bisexual

age:  twenty five

date of birth:  april 10th

zodiac sign:  aries

occupation:  tattoo artist at neon ink !

FAMILY

parents:  lucinda matthews ( mother, deceased ), andreas moreau (dad, sort of estranged but still in contact )

siblings:  twin brother ( possible wc i dont know yet!!), two older half siblings (also.. possible wcs... think of a somewhat close but not really set of dhampir half-sibs.. running amuck in portum.... )

APPEARANCE

eyes:  sea blue

hair:  constantly dyeing her hair between dark brown and blonde... she's going through a crisis ok

piercings:  ears are littered with piercings, has a septum nose piercing as well.

tattoos:  a tattoo of four doves on her left wrist; one for each representation of her siblings, her zodiac constellation on her right shoulder, an alien pointing the finger on her ankle, a ghost on her other ankle & the phases of the moon only to piss her father off because he's a vamp <3 .

other distinguishing features:  a distinguished air around her that she's better than everyone else, always wearing her family necklace engraved with rubies, a sarcastic smile on her face 24/7.

style:  always wearing a splash of color unless her father's in town because he seems to suck the fun out of everything, loves skirts & dresses just as much as jeans and shorts. an avid fan of multiple bracelets and rings adorned on each arm & hands, always has her hair down unless, again her father is in town & she has to pretend to be the perfect moreau she knows she is not.

PERSONALITY

positive traits:  creative, resourceful, independent

negative traits: vindictive, cruel, self-destructive

health:  has dealt with depression her whole life, also has undiagnosed adhd

likes:  collecting rocks, painting, photography, can play piano however hasn't touched one in years, avid history lover, gardening, baking, secretly loves to read comic books, tattooing herself in her spare time, also loves a bit of chaos every now and then

dislikes  sitting down for too long, silent spaces, crowded rooms & mushrooms, fires, the familial pressure to live up to the moreau expectations and always falling short every time, got bitten by a deer once and now its on sight any time she sees one , also does not like moths.

HEAD CANONS/BIO. - TW: parental death !

turns out i cannot fully form a bio anymore so here are a bunch of headcanons and slight family history!! anyways, enjoy my ramblings <3

Verity is a girl who deep down tries her best to please everyone, even her estranged father & siblings, especially her twin brother. It doesn’t seem like it ; she is definitely one to march to the beat of her own drum, but she still shows up to the weekly moreau family dinners once a week, verity still answers her twin’s phone calls even if its two am and she hasn’t slept a wink. Just because she says she hates her family, doesn’t mean she doesn’t love them. After all she is a moreau in blood & defiance, nothing will break the invisible bond they share with each other. 

To those who don’t know her she comes across as rude and obnoxious, but those who do know her see the vulnerable & childlike side to her that she hides, because to be a moreau is to be strong. But the weight of her familial expectations is crumbling the very foundations of herself, but verity still maintains an air of sophistication and being better than everyone else to keep others at bay. She has enough friends thank you. 

She and the rest of her siblings are dhampirs, half-human & half-vampire; but verity has always seemed more human than the rest, especially her twin brother. She is the black sheep of the family due to her natural human instincts ; though she does have a liking to blood more than others, and verity for a fact is stronger than her brother, though he is faster than her. 

Never had any interest in her father’s family real estate business in the human world ; though it seemed like her siblings were in a constant competition to be the best in front of their father, andreas, as they all wanted to take over once he decided it was time. While she wasn’t competitive with her siblings, in school she had always been ruthless and callous - needing to be the best was apparently a moreau trait, and she was almost always top of her class. She’d hide behind her intelligence like a shield ; verity moreau seemed as untouchable as she was charming and elegant. 

Has been living in Portum since she was five ! [ tw ] when her and her twin brother were born, andreas collected them from the hospital as their mother had passed during birth, compelling anyone who worked that night to forget about the inhumanly intelligent new born babies who already had the strength of a three year old. [ end tw ] They spent a few years traveling with them while he built his growing empire in real estate, before returning back to portum and reuniting the twins with their half-siblings ( andreas had a problem okay, he cant resist the human ladies ), so they could grow up in a place where they didn’t have to hide who they were. 

Verity loves being a dhampir; having most of the perks a vampire has while being able to walk in the sun without being bothered, she’s fast, strong but her hypnosis is weak. She doesn’t care to hypnotise people, verity would rather charm them naturally. Constantly flirting with everyone just because she can. Her fangs pop out of her mouth whenever she smiles, though they aren’t as sharp as full-vampires, they’re unnaturally longer than an average human. Growing up verity realised she had some influence over human emotions ( much like… jasper in twilight ok…. Dont @ me ) though as she’s only a half vampire, she doesn’t have much influence over the supernatural, but she also hasn’t tried. It kind of scares her, being able to manipulate the emotions of others, and refuses to learn more about how to - a constant thought and worry is someone accusing her of influencing the way they feel about her. Her father says he doesn’t care, but she can feel the disappointment radiating off of him sometimes, so verity gives him a wide berth because of it. 

Verity hates moths & bugs, as much of a careless girl she tries to be if she sees one she will scream ! 

Loves to gossip !! verity is a gossip queen and loves to learn the intimate details of her clients at neon ink. Will usually yap their ear off while verity works, and has no problem showing them her cool little rock collection. 

Will usually only leave Portum to collect said rocks and always comes back with a new obsession ; last time it was candle making, the time before that it was soaps and perfume making. Verity is obsessed with trying new hobbies and her little apartment is jam packed with forgotten hobbies - knitting, flax weaving, cooking, body lotions…. She just loves to learn things okay 

Verity is a force of nature and she knows it, her smile always has an edge to it and her eyes will always twinkle with i can get away with anything. Is at her most peace when she has the tattoo gun in her hand and she’s humming a little tune.

CONNECTIONS -

these are just some lil ideas i got while writing... whatever that bio was shdjdkd but i am also up for plotting our own thing !

Best friend/s: she’s been in portum since she was five and i’d imagine y/m has adopted verity as one of their friends !! verity would have come off as a quiet, shy girl at first until getting to know all of her, but they love each other anyway!! Verity is loud and opinionated but she means well. They’re essentially ride or dies, bonus points if they have matching tattoos!! 

Mentor/parental figure: as her father hadn’t been around for her important milestones, i just think it would be cute if she got close to someone older than her that seemed to be a better parent than her dad is dhefkkdd and would cheer her on from the sidelines, and possibly helped her strengthen her vamp abilities ! 

Bad influence: verity’s the “black sheep” of the family due to different interests in life, but this is the person who would have influenced her to make bad decisions over the years, and verity always goes to this person when her dads coming to town and she needs to relieve some stress by being a nuisance to society <3

Enemies: verity is hard to like sometimes and that’s okay ! she’s blunt, cutthroat when she wants something & will tear someone down to get what she wants because that’s all she knows. Maybe they’ve beefed since school and as adults they just dont mesh well! Bonus points for catty arguments that end in free tattoos <3

[faggotstump]

[neathyingenue]

tell us about Silvia and her postcolonial fl story! 👀

Oh man ok!! text wall incoming!!

Silvia is of Central American Indigenous, Spanish, and Welsh descent, so lots of fun fun colonialism in her family background there. She was born in British Honduras (Belize) but moved to England as a baby where she grew up and got an Oxford education. After her Welsh dad was killed by police, her British Honduran dad moved back to his home country to advocate for independence from the British. Rather than go with him, Silvia chose to go to the Neath, where she'd heard there was a card game where you could win your Heart's Desire (aka bring my dad back!). She hadn't intended to stay but then she died during the Starved Invasion.

More recently as I have been flabbergasted with how poorly the Third City is written and thought, damn I could do better Silvia has learned more about the history of the Neath, she realized that there are like actual Maya people still walking around, and has become obsessed with the idea that if she could find somewhere the Third City survives, she could realize her father's dream of a homeland independent of colonialism. (Will she lapse into colonizer tendencies while she tries to 'discover' this place, instead of allying herself with the Indigenous and creole communities who are actually still around in Central America? We will see!!)

In a metatextual sense, Silvia is an excuse for me to work out my complicated feelings about being Latina with some English/Scottish ancestry, being raised in the heart of the empire that is the latest in a line of powers who've destroyed my ancestors (I'm US American)-- while also having a lifelong obsession with English literature and a degree in English and Spanish lit :) I want to rewrite how people like me are depicted in English, especially Victorian English, texts, and interrogate my impulse to overly align myself either with the colonized or colonizer!

[pawfulofwaffles]

Texting? ❌ Lame and unoriginal, no fun to it, limited

Summoning? ✅ Cool and not commonly practiced! Zesty, you can talk to dead people

[cult-of-the-eye]

Guys ok imagine if Jon was a single dad and after Somewhere Else, Martin wakes up without him and finds his daughter sleeping peacefully with no memory of Jon having ever existed. So now Martin has to raise Jon's child by himself while he copes with the grief and also has a mini Jon running around.

[ihopesocomic]

@ last anon - i really don't want to make a thing of this because i'm sorry about your dad but maybe when somebody brings up an instance of them losing their parent and not personally wanting to view said parent's body for what seems to me like a very valid reason, it's really not in good taste to pop up anonymously and talk over them. RJ is right. Just because you were fine viewing a body as a literal child doesn't mean every other child would be?? 'This works both ways' very much applies here.

I completely get that their words were in response to a point they misread and the assumption I was dictating how people should view death when I wasn't.

But on the flip side, we've stated enough times that this comic is based on our personal experiences and is not meant to be a blueprint on how everyone should deal with abuse, grief, death or whatever we bring up that I don't think it's too much to ask for the very first sentence of my point to be read properly before anyone jumps the gun.

Also what the second anon said (and what I also pointed out in my initial response): somebody going away peacefully =/= being brutally murdered. The state of the body is very much a factor to consider too, not just the mourners in question. I'm also very sorry for your loss too, anon, and what you endured in the aftermath. <33

Unless anybody needs anything clearing up off anon, that's the very last thing I think we're going to say on this because this got kinda personal very quickly and yeah, I don't want it to get out of hand. - RJ